Now, I'll be honest. I'll hold up my cards right at the very start and state for everyone to hear that I love the Tenchi Universe series. It is not - as I have seen it described - a wishy-washy alternative to the OVA. It is also not a 'waste of time' or 'completely off canon'. It's none of those things. It is, quite simply, a well thought out and neatly developed series of twenty six episodes, during which time if you aren't totally smitten by the characters, you really need to see a psychiatrist.

I am not kidding.

But this page is not for me to ramble on about how much I love Tenchi Universe. More it's about the in-depth analysis of the salient moments of the series. In other fandoms I've broken shows down into episodes to do this, but it's more difficult to do that with an ongoing story such as the one Tenchi Universe tends to adhere to. So I'll try and do it this way, and hope that it works out :)

CANON: TRUE or DEVIANT?
On this subject, the answer has to be 'both'. As I mentioned in the summary, the Universe show does walk away from a few of the OVA themes, but for the most part it doesn't deviate from them, it just fails to bring them into the storyline. As any good writer will tell you - and probably quite a few bad ones, as well - if it doesn't fit, don't force it. Universe lives up to this ideal extremely well. There is quite simply no need to go repeating the themes already used and used to good advantage in the OVA. It would be boring if all that happened in this series was a repeat of what went on in the OVA anyway. Who wants to watch two television series where Goddesses with impossible powers appear and where everything is exactly the same as the one before? No. That's not what's going on here.

To make a good movie from a popular novel, there must be alterations, after all!

In terms of actual canon, the following things are not changed. Ryoko is still a space pirate, although in the Universe series she is still sought after for her crimes in space. She still has a telepathic bond with Ryo Ohki, as indicated in the episodes 10 (No Need For an Arch Rival, where she seems to be able to communicate with Ryo Ohki about her feelings for Ken Ohki), and 14 (No Need For A Rebellion, where Ryoko, Ayeka and Sasami are imprisoned aboard the Jurai ship and Ryoko attempts to contact Ryo Ohki from the cell - Washu even refers to this later, saying "telepathy won't help".). I have seen at least one website where it is claimed Ryoko and Ryo Ohki have no psychic bond in the TV series. Obviously that reviewer missed those two episodes ^_^.
Although we never see if Ryoko has been imprisoned, there is also reference to a long imprisonment in the past. When Ayeka is arrested, Ryoko tells her that 'life in a cell isn't that bad', but more significantly, when they are locked up together, Ayeka tells Ryoko that "this time" she won't get a "mere 700 years" trapped in a cave.(14) In Ayeka's Karaoke song (16), the princess refers to Ryoko as a "700 Year Old Mummy Woman", which is a DIRECT throwback to Ryoko's OVA background and the fact she was trapped in a cave when Tenchi found her. Even though in this series Ryoko meets Tenchi in a different way, it does not by any means indicate that Ryoko's backstory is any different from the one we are given in the OVA. Universe just DOES NOT BOTHER to re-state things that have already been said.

And that's just one character. Mihoshi is still a Galaxy Police official, and although we don't meet her grandfather as the Marshal in the TV show, we also don't find out that he's not somewhere in high command. With a ditz like Mihoshi, she must have got her pips in the service somewhere...just because we're not told she's related to someone in command doesn't mean she can't possibly be related to them. (Sigh...isn't it frustrating when people seem to need everything drawn out for them in a big linear diagram?) Washu is a mad scientist, who was kicked out of the Academy and exiled in a capsule, imprisoned in it for several hundred years. She's no less mad in the OVA, although here her imprisonment is aboard the Souja instead of in the cave (see what they did there?). Tenchi is still Yosho's grandson. Yosho is still the heir to the Juraian throne, and the sword is still called Tenchi. Ayeka is still the Crown Princess and heiress to the throne, and even though Yosho is not her brother, it's never really defined what relation she is to Yosho in the Universe series. (In fact, the whole Juraian Royal Family is confusing in this series. See below for more on this!).

Finally, there is no Tsunami mentioned and we don't see Sasami's bond with Tsunami. Sharp eyed people though will notice that Sasami's unnamed ship that crashes to earth has a strange glow about it, and Sasami is different from the others in one way - she is able to see and speak to the spirit Mirei aboard the ghost ship. This indicates that Sasami does have special magic of her own. We just haven't seen it yet. We do also discover her using an element of Jurai Power in the third movie, TMIL2, when she returns to Jurai in order to help hunt down Tenchi's whereabouts. Helpless little girl? I think not.

So basically, the Universe canon is not a long leap of imagination from the OVA one. There are differences and there are similarities between the two...but there is enough of a connection to realise that the main important points about the characters are still the same.

TIME AND SPACE ADVENTURES
This little three parter in the midst of the Universe series is so classic that I have to spare a moment in my babbling just to focus in on it. In some ways it's a psychiatrist's dream (No, I'm not a shrink, although I probably need one...). Unfortunately we don't get to see Tenchi's or Washu's ideal world, or, in fact, Ryo Ohki's (that would be interesting, don't you think?) But here's my breakdown of what we do get to see (in order of appearance)...some of it is quite telling!

AYEKA's World
Ayeka's world is set in traditional Kyoto (as she says herself after the adventures are all over). She is a traditionally dressed, culturally high maiden and Tenchi is her fiance, who obviously she's all over from the moment she sees him. Mihoshi and Kiyone appear in her world as police officials of some sort, while Sasami, Kazuhito and Noboyuke are basically side characters who have nothing important to do or say. (Shall we infer from this that this is how Ayeka views these people at this point in the series? Sasami is simply her sister that likes to play games, and the other two are just 'there' in the background?).
Ryoko makes an appearance as the Demon of Roshomon. In a way this is almost an 'in joke' because not only is the Demon of Roshomon story mentioned numerous times throughout the series/subsequent films but in the OVA Ryoko is basically cast as a 'demon' trapped in the cave. We assume that Ayeka is some kind of a princess - she is finely dressed, well spoken and well mannered, and this says something about the world she comes from as much as the world she wants to live in. We imagine she grew up in a very protected, rich and well to do world of high society and fine dress - but also in a world poised at the top of political negotiations, for she is adept at wheeler dealing and manipulates Kiyone and Mihoshi into joining Tenchi on his mission to slay the demon of Roshomon.
What is the most telling thing about Ayeka's world, however, is that Tenchi has no desire to slay the demon at all. In fact, he seems to be having some kind of an affair with her. It's not quite clear how intimate Ryoko and Tenchi's characters are in this world, but it's pretty obvious that there's something more than just friendship going down. Yet this is Ayeka's world...so what went wrong? Is Ayeka's subconscious so paranoid about Ryoko and Tenchi that she inadvertently created her as a rival? Or is Ryoko's own character (and Tenchi's too, perhaps) strong enough to override Ayeka's programming anyway, and force through some of her (their?) own ideas into her world?
Either way, Ayeka is the wounded fiancee who's man is cheating on her with a mad woman who burnt down lots of cities. Erm. If that doesn't tell you Ayeka needs help, then I don't know what would.

KIYONE's World
I'm always torn with Kiyone, as to whether I feel sorry for her or whether I want to shake her till her teeth rattle inside of her head. This is another of those times. We know Kiyone is desperate to succeed in her career, and every failure that she's had she's blamed on Mihoshi - probably not without justification, it has to be said. But this dream-world of hers shows her differently - that she has quit the police force and is running free, looking for somewhere quiet and peaceful to settle without Mihoshi looming large in her life. That the place she settles in is a quiet northern fishing village is quite interesting, since Kiyone loves the GXP headquarters for it's "life". It's almost like Kiyone's fight to be someone high up at the GXP is actually a battle with herself just to succeed, rather than a genuine love of the job. Either that or somewhere inside of her she realises that while she is with the GXP there will always be Mihoshi.
And yet, this world is a self-pitying world as well. She's running away from her problems and, at the end, she runs away again, leaving Mihoshi behind her and also leaving Ayeka and Sasami (who have trusted her without knowing her in this world) in the lurch regarding her job. Kiyone's issues with Mihoshi seem, therefore, to be the thing affecting her work performance more than anything. And it's not necessarily all Mihoshi's actions but the expectation of Mihoshi's actions that are bringing her down.

SASAMI's World
Sasami is one worrying little girl. I suppose for a ten year old, we can accept the talking Ryo Ohki (everyone wants a special secret friend, right?), the disturbing dress (well, she's a kid) and the really bad magic spells sh uses when trying to do something magical (don't ask). But even though this world is a blatant plug for Pretty Sammy (or maybe the birth of it, I don't know), there are still some majorly disturbing elements at work here. Firstly, Sasami has a major major crush on Tenchi in this world...to the point where she stays away from her 'Magical Kingdom' home and watches for Tenchi to leave the school grounds. She also induces her elder sister and Ryoko (both cast as Tenchi's fellow school students) to fall in love with one another, thanks to her magic bow and arrow. (Ook. That is one way to get rid of the competition, I suppose!). Whether Ayeka's role as Student Committee Chairman or Ryoko's as class drunkard are Sasami dictated or are their own selves poking through a bit is up for discussion...but if that is of Sasami's choosing, she managed to coin them pretty well into their roles!

MIHOSHI's World
Mihoshi's world is quite tragic really. At least, I find it so. She is Tenchi's wife - although we don't find that she has a real crush on Tenchi in this series, so she keeps that well hidden - and Sasami's mother. Maybe all she really wants is just a home and a husband and the domestic life, away from all the chaos and hassle of the Galaxy Police. Although she wants to be partnered with Kiyone forever, in her world she's far from this - actually she and Kiyone are in touch only occasionally, when they meet up for lunch. In a sense, then, Kiyone is more obsessed with the Mihoshi/Kiyone partnership situation than Mihoshi is, even though Mihoshi is probably the most loyal friend Kiyone will ever have.
So why is this tragic? Well, the tragedy comes with Ayeka in this instance. Ayeka is the nagging, unmarried sister-in-law (The "old bag" as Ryoko terms her) who spends her entire day criticising Mihoshi and nagging her to exhaustion to do this chore or that task. Basically she makes Mihoshi's life a misery. Why would Mihoshi put this into her world, then? Well, this is what's so very sad to me. Mihoshi loves Kiyone dearly, but Kiyone is always criticising her and is often mean to her. Therefore Mihoshi expects criticism in her life and probably believes she can't do much right. She's a happy go lucky and carefree soul, which prevents her from being turned into a jellyhead by all of this, but the fact that it shows up in her world means that it's something she anticipates always being part of her life. (Well. It is sad).
Quick mention must also be made here for Ryoko, as the "widow" next door (black widow, dare we suggest?) who is constantly flirting with Tenchi, even when Mihoshi is there to see it. (Is this a subconscious Mihoshi thing that she can't even keep her man, or Ryoko's personality winning through?)

RYOKO's World
I think I left the best till last, but I am biased. Ryoko's world is the world of a 1920s American gangster, probably on the lines of Bonnie and Clyde. With Tenchi as her captive turned co-conspirator, she is running across America, raiding banks and travelling from one side of the country to the other while Tenchi's fiance (again!) Ayeka sits at home, waves a rifle and gets mad at the FBI (Kiyone and Mihoshi). What does this tell us about Ryoko? Several things. Firstly, that she doesn't care if Ayeka is around too much, so long as she's the one actually with Tenchi. Secondly, that she loves to travel and likes the excitement and danger of being an outlaw on the run. Thirdly, that she likes stars and beautiful scenery, and basically just being free to do her own thing.
Ryoko's world is the last world, and because Ryoko was the first to use Washu's machine, Ryoko's consent is needed to give up the final fake world and return to the real one. At first she is reluctant to leave, confronting Tenchi and demanding to know whether he hates to travel with her that much. But eventually Ryoko realises what she's probably always known - that a fantasy won't do for her, it has to be the real thing and Tenchi has to want it too if it's really going to work out for them in the future. So she sacrifices her world and goes back to the real one - a gesture that indicates just how much she does care for Tenchi.
In my view, this is where Tenchi first starts to have real feelings for Ryoko, since their chemistry does change somewhat after this whole escapade. Draw your own conclusions, but it's right there!